Who Should Play El Chapo on the Big Screen?

Michael Bay is reportedly being eyed as a director for Sony's El Chapo movie. Who should get the part?

March 30, 2017

I mean, you knew it was coming. Maybe it didn't totally click for you the first time Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (a.k.a. El Chapo) broke out of maximum security prison, but it definitely hit you the second time he pulled off a cinematic escape: "Goddammit, I bet Michael Bay is circling this from afar, figuring out how to make it into a Transformers movie," you probably thought, because every Michael Bay movie is just a Transformers movie in disguise. That's just a fact.

As of this week, Sony has closed a deal on the rights to Cole Merrell and Douglas Century's Hunting El Chapo: The Thrilling Inside Story of the American Lawman Who Captured the World's Most-Wanted Drug Lord. According toDeadline, Bay is being eyed as both a producer and "potential director" of the film. Potential Michael Bay-isms of this movie aside, we have to ask: Who's going to play El Chapo, one of the most notorious and studied drug lords in modern history?

Luis Guzmán

With 40 years under his belt, Luis Guzmán has become arguably one of the most underrated character actors in the game. But forget about his appearance in the atrocious Adam Sandler Netflix original The Do-Over, and focus instead on his top-shelf work in Narcos and Richard Linklater's underrated 2006 meat industry study Fast Food Nation. Luis is the clear frontrunner here.

Javier Bardem

No Country for Old Men showed us that Javier Bardem could really bring the creeps when given the right material. Just one year after the Coen brothers drama's critical and commercial success, Bardem dropped the creeps in favor of pure charm in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona. If Luis Guzman isn't available, Bardem definitely has the range and clout to pull off a believable and multifaceted take on El Chapo.

Benicio del Toro

I know, I know. Sicario was, to put it mildly, divisive as fuck. But let's not act like Benicio del Toro isn't skilled enough to turn so-so scripts into powerhouse performances. Remember Excess Baggage?

Dude is also a member of the Star Wars family now, a brag that will surely mean something to a box office money stacker like Michael Bay.

Michael Peña

So what if Michael Peña believes Scientology made him a better actor? His work, especially recently, makes it hard to stay mad at L. Ron Hubbard and company. From his role in Paul Haggis' very serious Crash to his hilarious turn in Ant-Man, Peña's proven ability to bring both gravity and levity to a role could do Bay a lot of good.

Not Sean Penn

When Sean Penn scooped, like, every fucking reporter on the planet with his Rolling Stone story on El Chapo, the already cinematic life of the fugitive drug lord managed to go full meta. The article itself, however, didn't exactly roll out as planned. In an interview with Charlie Rose last year, Penn called his own article a failure. "I have a regret that the entire discussion about this article ignores its purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy in the War on Drugs," he said at the time.

That's fair, but still: Don't do this movie.